Curator’s Corner

Museum, research, and collection updates from Dr. José H. Leal, plus Shell of the Week, which highlights a different species every other Friday. Most Shells of the Week are found in Southwest Florida.

Dr. José H. Leal serves as the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium’s Science Director and Curator. He received his Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami and has served at the Museum since 1996.

Museum Collection Reaches Out Globally

Today I want to do something different and discuss a powerful resource for those of us interested in molluscan biodiversity. The image below shows the Museum’s landing page on the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). That includes a map showing our general reach (for lots with geographic coordinates) and a quick access to our gallery of images, currently with 2,786 multiple-photo images (see image on bottom of page.) Based in Europe, GBIF is one of large data aggregators for natural

A Gem of a Land Snail!

Look at this little green gem! Simpulopsis rufovirens (Moricand, 1846) was photographed by Alex Popovkin, working in the State of Bahia, Brazil. Notice how the color of the shell matches the color of the leaf on which it crawls. The early whorls are yellowish-brown, but the adult shell is a bright green! The entire shell surface is corrugated, which probably helps reinforce the shell against crushing by predators. The shell in this species is thin, and may grow to be a little larger than 0.5 inc

Shell of the Week: The Little Knobby Scallop

Caribachlamys pellucens (Linnaeus, 1758) measures up to 37.4 mm (about 1.5 inches) in height. The shell has about 8–10 radial ridges festooned with small knobs or thick scales. The valves in this species may show strong yellow hues internally. We assume that the coloration is not advantageous for visual communication of any kind, because other animals cannot see the inside of a shell. Bright colors and strong patterns usually serve to warn predators of poisonous substances present, or to attract

New Poster: Cool Florida Shells!

The Museum will soon be presenting a new poster showing quintessential and attractive Florida shells. I designed “Cool Florida Shells” during last year’s lockdown, using images shot by me and by Digital Imaging Specialists James F. Kelly and Patricia A. Starkey. The poster covers 68 species of bivalves and gastropods from the East and Southwest Florida coasts, Florida Keys, and deeper offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. It includes scientific and common names and size for each species. Printed thro

Georgia O’Keeffe and Shells

I first “found” American painter Georgia O’Keeffe in my teen years and quickly learned to love her paintings, bold images of shells, bones, flowers, and landscapes loaded with personal style, and terrific composition and colors. My “point-of-entry” into O’Keeffe’s artistic universe was “Red Hill and White Shell” on the cover of a book in the art section of a high-end bookstore in Rio de Janeiro. That painting acted like a powerful magnet, pulling me closer to inspect the book in more detail. I s

Shell of the Week: The Red-ribbed Scallop

Aequipecten glyptus (A.E. Verrill, 1882) measures up to 75 mm (about 3 inches) in height. The Red-ribbed Scallop is found along the Eastern Seaboard of the US, from Cape Cod to Texas. It is a moderately deep-water species, usually living in depths from 130 to 860 m (about 430 to 2,820 ft). The thin, flattened shell bears typical, red-colored, relatively broad ribs. The internal surface of valves shows narrow ribs that may serve to reinforce the shell. (A large reproduction of the illustration be

Shell of the Week: The Common Violet Snail

Janthina janthina (Linnaeus, 1758) measures up to 38 mm (about 1.5 inches) in height. The species is a member of the open-water, surface-dwelling community known as the neuston. Violet snails drift on the ocean surface using a raft of bubbles, feeding on other members of the neuston community such as the hydrozoans By-the-Wind-Sailor (Velella velella) and the Blue Button (Porpita porpita). The snail’s dependence on a raft of bubbles affects its posture on the water: they rest upside-down on the

The Ugly Duckling Clam

Despite its status as a very common local species in Southwest Florida (and far from being an attractive bivalve), the Ponderous Ark, Noetia ponderosa, is one of my favorite local species. There are a few reasons for that. The photo below explores a different angle and lighting to show cool internal features and structures of the shell in that species. Look at the hinge with its many small teeth and the intricate pattern of different scars indicating areas of muscle attachment of the living anim

Shell of the Week: The Coffee Bean Trivia

Pusula pediculus (Linnaeus, 1758) measures up to 22 mm (about 0.87 inch). The shell outline in trivias is elliptical, with an etched furrow along dorsal middle line. Trivias resemble cowries, but the sculpture of strong radial ridges sets them apart. The Coffee Bean Trivia usually lives on coral rocks in association with tunicates (e.g., sea pork.), and the species is not found along the shores of Southwest Florida.

Shell of the Week: The Shiny Auger

Hastula augers have bullet-shaped shells with a pointed apex. The Shiny Auger, Hastula hastata (Gmelin, 1791), has a glossy shell surface associated with a sculpture of relatively faint axial (“vertical”) ribs. Augers are found in the sand close to the water edge, in medium- to coarse-sand habitats, where they feed on marine worms.